Mobile User Interface Testing

May 31, 2019

The mobile application is the first and foremost area for which a test plan is required to be executed. It is very essential to have a decent looking screen of a particular application. It is the only way to attract the users. It is the general duty of a QA to make sure that the application is having an effective functionality.

The QA should possess proper knowledge about the facts and must be aware about the basic flow of the devices in which the particular application is to be tested. We all know that the application would have some impact on the mobile device such as email, phone, contacts, camera, calendar etc. Below are some of the most important viewpoints that are needed to be taken in consideration while testing a user interface along with their some of the basic steps which a QA usually follows to test its different aspects.

a) Screen Resolution

In today's century, the mobile applications have become far versatile, and they are designed to fit to various mobile devices, with various screen resolutions. In this situation it is better to begin with the device with a smallest screen size and then continue to largest one of it. By this method of creating a smallest screen, there can be chances that a particular application may not fit into the required device, and the fields of the screen may cut off. Similar is the situation with the devices with different screen sizes. Thus, one has to check the basic screen orientation in both ways i.e. in landscape and portrait mode that too in various screen sizes. It is done with the help of different devices available according to the needs and requirements. Also, all the pages of an application have to be tested in both ways i.e. in landscape as well as the portrait mode.

b) Touch screens and Trackballs

Smart phones generally have a number of touch ability to make their application looks a lot easier, such as the pinch to zoom the effect; in this case sliding effects are to be considered. So, QA must create a point that the particular application is check out by zooming in some of the sections according to the needs of an application. For example, in a navigation application, the user needs the zooming effect. The testing is done on the basis to check whether on zooming the result is displayed in a broader and detailed way or not. Similarly, in case the texts are very small, we just need to zoom it and can check out if it is not distorted. Similar to this the tester also checks the sliding effect whether it works by a single stroke.

c) Hard keys

There are also other reasons for an application to be tested, such as ensuring that they are very well interrelated with the mobile hard keys such as start, menu, home, and back buttons. In order to enhance the customer experience, these hard keys need to work in same way as it normally works in a mobile's native application.

d) Shortcuts

Various shortcuts present in a mobile application are also checked before the application releases. This ultimately helps in making an application a success. The tester should check if the shortcuts functions in an efficient manner.